And he says if they go all the way and win a place in the UEFA Cup it will be a fitting reward for United's loyal supporters.

"I've come full circle and am now a fan rather than a player - I feel I've a better grasp now of what the Fairs Cup meant to people than I had at the time," Moncur says.

"A trophy is a trophy and Tyneside waited too long for one-but the real prize is a place in the UEFA Cup this time.

"European football is vital for fans of a club the size of Newcastle and the supporters have responded tremendously to the Intertoto.

"They want to be a part of more nights like when Barcelona came to St James's Park four years back."

Moncur relishes recalling United's Fairs Cup triumph - and the party the Newcastle players and officials enjoyed after the second leg of the final that balmy evening in Budapest.

"We'd played some good teams and were underdogs all the way through - teams like Feyenoord, Sporting Lisbon, Rangers and Real Zaragoza had plenty of European experience but we beat them," Moncur recalls.

"We thought it was all over after the first leg at St James's - we'd won 3-0, had a good back four and weren't conceding many goals at the time.

"By half-time in Budapest, though, we were 2-0 down and in trouble - but Joe Harvey said if we could score Ujpesti Dosza would cave in!

"We hadn't been across the halfway line in the first 45 minutes - but in the first minute of the second half I went up for a corner and ended up getting us a goal.

"And we went on to win 3-2 on the night and 6-2 on aggregate."

But Moncur maintains it wasn't until the Newcastle party returned to Tyneside that the Magpies realised the magnitude of what they'd achieved.

"As we landed at Newcastle airport I was asked to go out first, carrying the cup-I couldn't see the point because it was the middle of summer and I didn't think anyone would be there!" he recalls.

"I was wrong of course, and there were fans lining the route all the way from the airport to a packed St James's Park."